Psych Undergrad to Nursing or Gerontology?

[smking0906]

Hi there,

I am currently a senior psychology major about to graduate with my bachelor's degree and really need some career choice advice. I have had a lifelong dedication to music, and was even a music therapy major for the beginning half of college, then switched in the hopes of finding something a bit more exciting (like nursing). I also have a lifelong dedication and love for elderly people and want a helping profession that allows me to engage with them and work toward benefiting their quality of life and making them happy. I have played music in many nursing homes and enjoyed that greatly, but I want a stable career one day.

I am currently trying to decide whether to do an Accelerated BSN program through Western Carolina University in Asheville, NC or to just get my masters in Gerontology.

I have ADD and often struggle with the idea of putting myself through nursing school and it's pre-requisites because I am not much of a science person but I know nursing school would benefit me greatly in my career. I honestly kind of dread taking chemistry and more biology because they have always been sort of a struggle for me and I really do enjoy studying psychology, but diseases do interest me and so do treatment plans. I'm sure that being a nurse is not like the pre-requisites or the coursework, but I worry that I might enter into a program and make myself miserable & drop out just because of the coursework, even though I might make a great nurse someday. I am very caring and compassionate and do want to help people.

Though I wouldn't aim to be a nurse forever, and definitely want to get a master's in Gerontology, would nursing school be necessary/exceptionally helpful? I definitely want to work on the social aspects of aging and quality of life as opposed to the medical side, but I know a nursing background would help me with job and career opportunities. Should I go for it and do nursing or would I be able to do fine with just a bachelor's in psych and a master's in Gerontology?

Also, how rewarding is being a nurse in terms of interacting with patients and making them happy on a daily basis? Do you get the opportunity to chat with, say elderly patients, about their lives and hear their stories?

Would love any and all advice, especially those who are familiar with the field of gerontology!

Thank you all so much.

Fondly,

Sarah

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

You're very wise to engage in a period of reflection and exploration before making a commitment to any additional education. Nursing is a health science profession. It's not just a matter of squeaking by with the pre-requisite courses, we actually have to understand and apply that knowledge in order to provide nursing care. Health care research and technology are continuously advancing, so we also have to engage in continuous learning just to keep up in those areas.

Pre-licensure nursing education is designed to produce generalists. The curriculum includes learning to care for all types of patient populations. There is no opportunity to specialize until after you are licensed. If you only want to work with geriatric patients, this would probably be enormously frustrating. Have you explored the types of work that go on in health care settings associated with geriatric care? If so, you probably have noted that there are jobs such as activity director & administrator... that are not "science-y" health care professions at all. One of these may be a better fit for you since you state that you're "not much of a science person".